The present invention relates generally to the field of data processing, and more particularly to downloading digital resources.
Computer networks, for example, the Internet, provide information and contents which can be accessed via the network. Various types of files, such as program files, music files (e.g., MP3-files), or video files, can be downloaded via the Internet and then executed, for example, on a computing device to which the respective file was downloaded.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application, forming a peer-to-peer network of nodes. Peers make a portion of their resources, such as processing power, disk storage or network bandwidth, directly available to other network participants, without the need for central coordination by servers or stable hosts. Peers are both suppliers and consumers of resources, in contrast to the traditional client-server model in which the consumption and supply of resources is divided. Emerging collaborative P2P systems are going beyond the era of peers doing similar things while sharing resources, and are looking for diverse peers that can bring in unique resources and capabilities to a virtual community thereby empowering it to engage in greater tasks beyond those that can be accomplished by individual peers, yet that are beneficial to all the peers.